Internal Security in the EU and Police Cooperation: Operational Police Cooperation

• Author: Saskia Hufnagel
• Profession: Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law and Co-Director of the Criminal Justice Centre (CJC) at Queen Mary University of London
• Pages: 267-277

267

20. INTERNAL SECURITY IN THE

EU AND POLICE COOPERATION:

OPERATIONAL POLICE

COOPERATION

Saskia Hufnagel

1. Introduction

Operational police cooperation in the EU has developed signif-

icantly since the Tampere Council Conclusions in 1999. Most

importantly, the year coincides with the becoming operational

of Europol, which has since then developed into an EU agency

(Europol Regulation 2016/794). Furthermore, Joint Investigation

Teams (JITs) were established under Article 13 of the 2000 Mutual

Legal Assistance Convention and today operate under the 2002

Framework Decision on Joint Investigation Teams. e two strat-

egies shall be assessed here in light of police cooperation mecha-

nisms in their functions to facilitate international police interac-

tion, not because they are as such EU police cooperation measures.

e assessment is conducted from an international perspec-

tive. e rst question in this regard is whether there is any inter-

national comparison to the two instruments (Europol and JITs)

in any other part of the world. e second question is how these

instruments are perceived internationally by third countries and

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